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Published: November 10, 2011

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing to delay a decision on the contested Keystone XL
pipeline while it studies an alternate route, effectively pushing any
action past the 2012 election, officials and lobbyists who have been
briefed on the matter said on Thursday. An announcement is expected as
early as Thursday afternoon.

The proposed project by a Canadian pipeline company had put President Obama
in a political vise, squeezed between demands for secure energy sources
and the jobs the project will bring, and the loud opposition of
environmental advocates who have threatened to withhold electoral
support next year if he approves it.

The $7 billion pipeline, which would run from Alberta to the Gulf Coast,
has generated intense opposition from environmentalists and public
officials in Nebraska, who claim that it threatens sensitive lands and
underground water supplies along its 1,700-mile route. Critics also say
that the heavy oil extracted from sand formations in Canada will add to climate change and extend American dependence on fossil fuels.

The administration in recent days has been exploring ways to put off the
decision until after the 2012 election, fearing further alienation of
environmental and health advocates who consider the pipeline decision a
test of the Obama administration’s commitment to clean energy and air
quality. Environmental groups have expressed sharp disappointment with a
number of recent administration environmental decisions, including the
rejection of a tougher new smog standard proposed by the Environmental
Protection Agency and a five-year offshore drilling plan that opens new areas in the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico.

The administration is expected to announce that it will order a study of
an alternate route for the pipeline that avoids Nebraska’s Sand Hills
region and the Ogallala aquifer. That study could take as long as 18
months, putting an ultimate decision on the project well past next
November.

Larry Schweiger, president the National Wildlife Federation, one of many
environmental groups opposed to the pipeline project, said Thursday
that White House officials had indicated to his organization that a
decision to change the plans for the pipeline was imminent.

“The way I understand it, the process will be altered and altered to
make sure all of our concerns are considered,” he said.

A spokesman for the environmental group added that the White House had
indicated that considering a new route for the pipeline would
essentially delay the project by 12 to 18 months.

The State Department’s inspector general announced earlier this week
that he was looking into charges of conflict of interest and improper
political influence in the preparation of the project’s environmental
impact statement. Last week, the State Department’s spokeswoman said
that a target date of Dec. 31 for determining whether the pipeline was
in the national interest could slip.

Mr. Obama, in an interview with KETV in Omaha last week, said that he,
not the State Department, would make the final decision based on “what’s
best for the American people.”

He cited protection of the Nebraska aquifer and the health of the American people as considerations in his decision.

Yet he also said that he would weigh domestic energy needs as a factor.
He has been under considerable pressure from the oil and gas industry
and their allies in Congress to increase domestic oil production and
approve the pipeline to bring oil from a friendly neighbor.

“We need to encourage domestic natural gas and oil production,” Mr.
Obama said in the television interview. “We need to make sure that we
have energy security and aren’t just relying on Middle East sources. But
there’s a way of doing that and still making sure that the health and
safety of the American people and folks in Nebraska are protected, and
that’s how I’ll be measuring these recommendations when they come to
me.”

Opponents of the project have organized two large protests outside the
White House, including one on Sunday in which several thousand
protesters encircled the mansion demanding that the president kill the
pipeline. Earlier this year more than 1,000 protesters were arrested in
large demonstrations across from the White House.

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All session USuncut Minnesota flyered for #ALECExposed

NO CUTS! NO CONCESSIONS! Stop the Tax evaders, close the loopholes! Unfortunately, news as to what the cuts ARE were significantly missing in the corporate media. And on Feb. 14th, ALEC/GOP members decided MN should have NO new revenues. That left our state with an ALL CUTS budget and lots of concessions.

We know that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) manufactured a shutdown crisis and lack of transparency.

Here are our video reports on our 22 May ACTION. We took over a live feed mic that was going all over the state of Minnesota !! (thanx Orlando, actuallyhelping.org)